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CHICAGO, May 5, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Online display advertising provides people with an enriched Internet experience through embedded advertising space within billions of online web pages ("banner ads"), which serve to personalize the Internet experience and provide free content. Effective today, this banner ad space will be utilized to display urgent information about abducted children. Working with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) as a secondary AMBER Alert distributor, Dotomi Inc. will interrupt online banner advertising to individuals who are on Internet devices in the area of a child abduction and replace it with AMBER Alerts.

"Dotomi is honored to be joining the team of secondary AMBER Alert distributors and provide another way the public can join with law enforcement to bring home abducted children," said Jason J. Bier, Chief Privacy Officer and In-House Counsel at Dotomi. "Dotomi is centered on using its technology to provide a more relevant online experience for people, and by working with NCMEC for AMBER Alert we continue to be on the right track. We are now providing a tool to help find and safely recover an abducted child."

When Dotomi is notified that an AMBER Alert has been issued, it dynamically assembles information such as child photos, suspect photos, and details of the abduction and then immediately messages this information through its publisher networks to active devices in the area of the abduction by replacing online banner ads with AMBER Alerts. Individuals who receive these emergency messages can then click on them to visit NCMEC's website and view additional details about the abduction. The messages also contain contact information for individuals to report any information they may have about the case to law enforcement.

"As the National AMBER Alert Coordinator, I am pleased to see this effort reach more Internet users," said Laurie O. Robinson, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, Department of Justice. "I would like to thank NCMEC and Dotomi, Inc. for working together to develop another way for the publicto help us identify missing and abducted children and bring them home safely."

Since the program's inception in 1996, AMBER Alerts have been credited with the safe recovery of 538 children nationwide.

"The success of the AMBER Alert program is directly related to people's awareness of the issue and willingness to get involved. Dotomi's participation represents an advancement in providing people with information that can save lives and reunite families," said Ernie Allen, President of NCMEC. "Through this effort we can mobilize many more people and bring additional resources to aid in the rescue and recovery of abducted children."

On January 13, 1996, 9-year-old Amber Hagerman went missing while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas. A neighbor heard her scream and saw a man pull her off her bike, throw her into the front seat of his pickup truck and drive away. Local radio and television stations covered the story. However, four days later Amber's body was found in a drainage ditch four miles away. Her kidnapping and murder still remain unsolved.

Although her case has never been solved, her abduction and murder in 1996 lead to the creation of the national AMBER Alert Program. AMBER stands for "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response." In response to Amber's abduction, the Dallas/Fort Worth Association of Radio Managers teamed up with local law-enforcement in 1997 to implement the first local AMBER Plan. Since that time, the program has grown into a seamless network of 120 AMBER plans across the country, and has even reached into Canada, England, France, Greece, Portugal, Mexico and other countries. In 2003, Congress directed the U.S. Department of Justice to oversee the AMBER Alert program designating the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs as National AMBER Coordinator.

The primary means for AMBER Alert activation is the Emergency Alert System (EAS), the broadcast system used for weather emergencies and other public emergencies. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created a special code and tone for AMBER Alerts. Once law enforcement has determined that a child has been abducted and the abduction meets AMBER Alert criteria, law enforcement notifies broadcasters and state transportation officials.

To enhance and expand the reach for AMBER Alerts, an AMBER Alert Secondary Distribution System has also been created. These "secondary" alerts are reaching millions of Americans in many ways including through partnerships with Internet Service Providers, the Trucking Industry, the Wireless Industry and through the use of Digital Signage which all help distribute AMBER Alert bulletins to a geographically targeted audience. The Justice Department has designated NCMEC to coordinate these secondary distributions. When law enforcement activates an AMBER Alert, they also alert NCMEC, which coordinates the additional dissemination.

Dotomi's participation in AMBER Alert represents an important expansion of the secondary distribution system and will enable AMBER Alerts to dramatically increase the reach of and impact of these life-saving bulletins.